B.C. man who fed pot-guarding bears fined $6,000

GRAND FORKS, B.C. - A British Columbia man who pleaded guilty to feeding bears that apparently guarded a pot plantation on his property has been fined $6,000.

Allan Piche was fined at a sentencing hearing Thursday on two charges of feeding the bears, said Aaron Canuel, an inspector for the B.C. Conservation Service in the Kootenays.

Piche and his wife Kathleen were each charged with one count of feeding dangerous wildlife between June and October 2011 near Christina Lake in south central B.C.

Piche's wife will appear in court June 19, Canuel said.

Piche was first arrested in August 2010 when police investigating a grow-op discovered tame black bears.

The animals watched passively as officers removed 2,300 marijuana plants from the property.

Piche pleaded guilty to feeding them, but was charged a second time with the same offence.

After the first incident, conservation officers had to kill two of nearly 30 black bears that had been eating Piche's dog food because they repeatedly approached backyard decks in the community about 500 kilometres east of Vancouver.

Canuel said Piche's fine included restrictions barring him from feeding dangerous wildlife in B.C. and from leaving attractants on his property.